Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Handbook
Table of Contents
PREFACE 1. INTRODUCTION
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What are Assets?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 What is Asset Mapping? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Asset Mapping: Why Bother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Asset Mapping Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Three Approaches to Asset Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 General Facilitation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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3. APPROACH 2: STORYTELLING
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4. APPROACH 3: HERITAGE
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5. NEXT STEPS
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Optional Next Steps for Approaches 2 and 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Further References, Links, etc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
APPENDIX
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Preface
he theme of the National Rural Conference 2002 is Community Capacity Building, which is about helping communities to help themselves. Community Capacity Building supports a way of thinking that will add value to the social, economic, and human resources that exist in the community. Key objectives of this conference include providing participants with tools and skills needed to stimulate development in their communities. This handbook is one of those tools. This handbook is about asset mapping. It outlines three practical approaches that community leaders can use to engage people in shaping the future of their community. Asset mapping can be used as a starting place for communitybased initiatives such as community development, strategic planning, and organizational development. The idea for asset thinking and asset building came from Professor Tony Fuller and Lee Ann Small of the University of Guelph and their experience of applying the concept of Sustainable Livelihoods to rural development in Ontario. A group of partners lead by The Ontario Rural Council, and later facilitated by the Ontario Agricultural Training Institute, undertook to organize a rural dialogue for the Rural Secretariat and Rural Team Ontario in 2001. All regions in Canada undertook a Rural Dialogue in 2001, although Ontario was the only region to adopt a full-scale assets approach. The resultant dialogue proved to be a positive experience. As a result, the idea to test the process for policy thinking and to adapt it for community asset mapping was conrmed at the North Bay, Ontario Rural Conference. Sponsored by the Secretary of State, this conference was the culminating part of the Ontario Rural Dialogue, 2001.
Introduction
Assets are what we want to keep, build upon, and sustain for future generations.
Assets can be physical, concrete things like buildings, the local swimming pool, and the 150 year old tree in the town square, but can also be intangible like the work that volunteer groups do to beautify the main street or raise funds for the food bank.
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ASSET MAPPING: WHY BOTHER?
Introduction
Long-term rural residents may feel they know what is good about their community and will ask, why bother? The main benet of asset mapping is to get a common view of what is important, to afrm or broaden what you think, and to hear and appreciate the values of others. You can be fairly sure that although people may have very different backgrounds, they readily come together about what they see as important assets in rural life.
This coming together around common assets changes the way we think about our communities, because it unites people around a positive identity and a collective cause. We stop thinking about our needs. Although we have been brought up to consider development in terms of needs, this approach to change has major limitations. Needs approaches tend to divide people and communities. Articulating needs often becomes a competitive process in many cases and often pits communities and organizations against each other. The needs approach fragments communities rather than combines them. Government is becoming less inclined to react to needs approaches. In response, asset mapping as a process has the potential to be inclusive of all community dimensions and interests. Asset mapping can be a starting point for various initiatives, as illustrated in the diagram below.
ASSET MAPPING
STRATEGIC PLANNING
T. Fuller, 2002
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
THE RURAL ADVANTAGE
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Asset mapping is a process that works in both rural and small town Canada. Rural areas are very diverse and have assets that vary widely across the country and its regions. The various techniques of asset mapping that will be outlined in this handbook allow for different asset combinations to emerge, and, as a result, permit the unique features and special character of rural
Introduction
places to be recognized. The result is that asset mapping celebrates differences rather than homogeneity. Recognition of differences is also critical for all population groups that reside in rural Canada aboriginal peoples, the elderly, farm families and ex-urban residents. Each has a story to tell and different ways of appreciating and bringing strength to rural communities. Asset mapping can differentiate the assets of individual groups as well as the combined community assets. Recognizing the assets that are important to different populations and interest groups is critical when acting on the key issue of selecting which strategies are necessary to sustain the assets. Asset mapping provides the information and energy for individual and combined asset mobilization at the community level. Asset mapping as a process has the potential to be inclusive of all community dimensions, features and interests. Assets in rural areas are generally all spread out (Snow, 2001). Rural people and communities already know a lot about how to deal with distance between places, services and amenities. Asset mapping can lead to positive rural development, as communities already know about mobilizing their assets. Identiying rural assets shows us the best assets to mobilize.
Introduction
It is a form of discovery; there are far more assets in the community than most people realize and this is a very positive way to start a dialogue. It is inclusive; assets can include both public, community, and private assets. Rural assets have relevance in both rural and urban areas.
Assets are what we want to keep, build upon and sustain for future generations.
In the next section of this handbook we will present three different ways to map assets in your community. Select the one that suits you.
The Whole Assets Approach The Storytelling Approach The Heritage Approach
The three approaches include one general approach and two variations. In this case all three approaches merge into the same set of possibilities for exploring how to sustain and build upon the assets identied, as illustrated by the diagram on page 10. How we sustain assets is wide open, and invites the invention and creativity of rural groups, community organizations and individuals. All three approaches produce what can be called a kind of map of assets, as identied by the people intimately involved in the landscape. This map may look like a real map, an assets chart or wheel, or simply a list of assets. Whatever the format, assets identication is the rst stage of positive community development. Choices then abound as to what strategies to adopt to ensure that the assets identied can be sustained well into the future.
Introduction
The Whole Assets Approach takes into account all the assets that are part of peoples view of their immediate community as well as the surrounding rural world. It is a systematic and balanced way to assess all the community assets from natural, social, economic, and service components of the community system. Because communities are not islands unto themselves, it means going outside the community to see what is important about the surrounding and interconnected areas. Whole asset mapping is comprehensive and although it takes longer, can provide a complete map of the community and its support system. The Storytelling Approach produces pieces of social history that reveal assets in the community. It identies how assets that are often hidden or dormant can be put together with other assets to produce additional assets. Often a story will be about human capacity and the people who made it happen people with vision, a mission, leadership, energy, and community interests at heart. These stories generally have a happy ending. The Heritage Approach produces a picture (map or list) of those physical features, natural or built, that make the community a special place. Assets include natural heritage features such as rivers, sugarbush, park or beach, as well as built features such as an old bridge, defunct steamboat, historic building, a long-time favorite coffee shop. Almost anything on the landscape can be part of a communitys heritage, if the people who live and work there feel it is signicant to them. The key steps in these three approaches are graphically represented on the following page.
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Introduction
STORYTELLING APPROACH
Identify asssets
HERITAGE APPROACH
Identify asssets
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Introduction
GENERAL FACILITATION NOTES
Who should come to the session?
Invite a cross-section of community members. Some examples of potential participants are members of Business Improvement Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Community Futures Development Corporations, Business Centres, banks, credit unions, representatives from festivals, other cultural groups, churches, co-operatives, libraries, environmental groups, youth groups, nonprot organizations, and any other active community groups. Focus on getting a group of 15-30 people for these sessions. The exercise is also useful with smaller groups and, in each community, the numbers will vary. Try to get people from different cultures and with varying perspectives, including diversity in age and working experience.
Get to know the assets within communities Share an appreciation for the value of these assets Understand how we can build and/or sustain these assets
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Introduction
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BUILT
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The Objectives of this session are to: Identify important rural assets. Build an understanding of the groups appreciation of these assets. Materials List
Large diagram made up of ip-chart paper that uses the following categories: NATURAL SERVICE BUILT SOCIAL ECONOMIC A illustration of this diagram is contained in the appendix and can be photocopied onto transparencies and used to describe the Whole Assets Approach. Markers, two boxes multicolour Masking tape or blue gum 3" x 5" le cards, at least 100 Two ip charts Large coloured sticker dots Overhead projector, transparencies and markers
Identify the threats to these assets. Plan how the group can sustain and build upon the collective value of these community assets.
Human Resources
Facilitator Assistant who will help to post ip charts and be a runner and recorder when needed.
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5. Break (10 min.)
Are there any surprises? What do the surprises mean? This discussion gives participants an opportunity to think about their own and others choices, and may well change minds. The faciliator should be upbeat and positive.
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Outcome: Each group will discuss supports and threats to the asset/s in the chosen asset grouping. The diagram on page 16 can be used to illustrate the point. Introduction Give name and explain why this asset category is important to you. Select a presenter for the group to record, prepare a transparency and present the groups ndings. Discuss are these assets sustainable? If so, what supports their sustainability? What are the opportunities associated with these assets? If these assets are not sustainable, please identify the threats. If you have time, begin to plan how your group can preserve and increase the collective value of these community assets.
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Approach 2: Storytelling
The Storytelling Approach to asset mapping is a creative way to identify assets in the community. In this approach, the assets that emerge will tend to focus on the human qualities rather than the physical assets of the heritage approach discussed later. Asset storytelling reveals the positive activities of a time and place in which one or more assets are used to form a positive outcome. A good facilitator will draw out of these stories the key element (assets) involved, the resources used, and the critical parts of the story. Comparison of these elements across stories will reveal that there are common assets, both human and physical. Assets are primary ingredients in making good things happen at the community level. Stories are a part of rural life and can be very entertaining as well as informative. Storytelling is a good way for newcomers to appreciate both the recent and distant past of their new community. They will hear these stories through the voices of locals who were there or who were told the stories themselves. The strength of this approach is that stories will revolve around local places and real people. This strength helps to root asset mapping in a local reality. Most asset stories are about people and what they did to make community life better. The purpose of the Storytelling Approach is to share with the group how a particular event was a creative and positive process for the community. These stories will identify how groups can solve problems while maximizing opportunities. They will reect how an individual or a group can turn adversity into an advantage which builds the assets of a community.
Assets are what we want to keep, build upon, and sustain for future generations.
Assets can be physical, concrete things like buildings, the local swimming pool, and the 150 year old tree in the town square, but can also be intangible like the work that volunteer groups do to beautify the main street or raise funds for the food bank.
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Approach 2: Storytelling
Objectives of this session are to: Share many great stories about your community and collect written versions.
Materials List
Markers, two boxes multicolour Masking tape or blue gum Two ip charts Large coloured sticker dots Overhead projector, prepared transparencies and markers 3" x 5" le cards, at least 100 total
Understand how these stories illustrate that combining resources, both human and physical, can develop a successful project. These stories will illustrate best practices. A synthesis of the stories will identify common assets across stories. Build an understanding of the groups appreciation of these assets by linking them. Create a network that will continue to work together at building on the assets of their community.
Human Resources
Facilitator Assistant who will help to post ip charts and be a runner and recorder when needed.
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Approach 2: Storytelling
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO STORYTELLING APPROACH, FACILITATORS NOTES (3 HOURS)
1. Welcome and Introduction (10 min.)
Outcome: Group members to get to know each other. The facilitator will welcome the group. Ask participants to introduce themselves briey. Ask participants to share who has been the best storyteller in their lives.
River
Polluted river + people cleaned river + stocked it with trout = North American best for y shing
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Approach 2: Storytelling
be useful for the participants to hear the story examples listed in the sidebar for further clarication. Ask the participants to write key words on cards that summarize their story. Try asking participants to illustrate their story in the form of an equation. This will help to identify the specic assets that were involved in this story. The facilitator will ask each participant to hand in their card. Remember that these stories can portray both real and intangible assets. They can also portray hidden or less well known community assets. The facilitator will attempt to nd key words from each story that symbolize the strengths or assets illustrated in the story. The facilitator will record these key words on the ip chart. The list will continue to grow until everyone has shared a story and will reect what the group sees as the key assets of their community. Questions to ask when participants tell their stories: What were the key assets in your story? What kind (human and physical) of assets were involved? How did relationships develop? What were key learnings?
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Approach 2: Storytelling
5. Small Group Discussion and Analysis (30 min.)
Outcome: Participants will further analyze, in smaller groups, their own stories. This will pinpoint key players, time involved, barriers, and achievements. The facilitator will number off each participant in order to form smaller groups. The small group will choose one or two stories to analyze further. The facilitator will review the following questions with the participants before they break into smaller groups. Who became involved? How long did the process take? What were the biggest barriers? What were the most important achievements?
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Approach 3: Heritage
The Heritage Approach has a narrower focus and can be done in less time than the Whole Assets Approach. It is also more conventional in the sense that it concentrates on the built environment. In most provinces, there are programs that could support plans that occur as a result of this approach. Understanding what features on the landscape the community believes are signicant is another community building approach that uses assets in the positive sense. Heritage is the literal asset mapping approach. Maps can actually be used to locate items of value and group signicance as illustrated in this handbook. Buildings, rivers, natural features, and landmarks evoke strong symbols of community for many people and identifying these symbols is a sound way to bring people and organizations together for positive discussions about sustaining their community. The Heritage approach develops a strong sense of community identity and is ideal for strategic plans that may be devoted to projects such as tourism development and community beautication. It is also a powerful marketing tool for promoting the community as a potential location for business, business retention, and other community economic development initiatives. The purpose of the community heritage approach is to identify key assets within the participants immediate environment. It validates the most important features of the community and surrounding environment. This process will facilitate an understanding of what these features mean to individuals and how they impact each other. The group will gain some insight into the real value of community assets to the participating community members. This approach works best when many people are involved.
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Objectives of this session are to:
Approach 3: Heritage
Develop a clear sense of what each member feels are the physical attributes of the community. A map showing key areas community assets will be produced as a result of this session.
Materials List
One large map of your local community. This map should be sketched prior to the meeting by someone who can draw a representation of the community in question. Not much detail is required. We recommend that the map be drawn on six to eight ip chart sheets (about 5 x 7 ft). Small copies of the maps for participants to take away. Markers, two boxes multicolour Masking tape or blue gum 3" x 5" le cards, at least 100 Two ip charts Large coloured sticker dots Overhead projector, prepared transparencies and markers
Build an understanding of the groups appreciation of these specic attributes and assets.
Human Resources
Facilitator Assistant who will help to post ip charts and be a runner and recorder when needed.
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Approach 3: Heritage
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO HERITAGE APPROACH, FACILITATORS NOTES (3 HOURS)
1. Welcome and Introduction (15 min.)
Outcome: Group members will get acquainted.
The facilitator will welcome the group and ask participants to introduce themselves briey by doing one of the following: i) Participants share how long they have lived in the community.
ii) Participants share how long they have been involved in their own organization.
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Approach 3: Heritage
Make sure that participants understand that the items identied reside in, or are unique to, their community. We are not talking about rivers in general; we are talking about a specic river or part of a river. Ask the following questions: What physical asset do you really cherish in your community? What have you always thought of as the best feature of your community?
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Approach 3: Heritage
Ask the following questions: What assets are recognized in this picture? Why are the cards located where they are? Do we like this map? Why or why not?
The facilitator must remember to thank participants for their contribution as they participate in the discussion.
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Approach 3: Heritage
The group may decide that they want to continue the process. Please refer to the Next Steps section for future work in asset mapping. The facilitator could assist the group deciding what to do next and who will do it. Some groups will want to continue working together while others will be satised with the current product.
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Next Steps
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2. Break (10 min) 3. Large Group Presentation (45 min.)
Next Steps
Outcome: Each group to present summaries of their discussions. Each group will present their summaries. Try to do this in ve minutes per group. The facilitator will summarize key ideas from each group presentation.
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Next Steps
CONCLUDING REMARKS
As we mentioned in the introduction, the theme of the conference is Community Capacity Building, which is about helping communities to help themselves. Community Capacity Building supports a way of thinking that will add value to the social, economic, and human resources that exist in the community. Key objectives of this conference include providing participants with tools and skills to stimulate development in their communities. Asset mapping is a positive enjoyable approach to learning about community. It challenges us to see different points of view and to collectively strategize about how to build on assets in order to support and enhance them for future generations to enjoy. This handbook is a tool that can be used as a starting point for a number of initiatives including strategic planning, organizational development and community development. Anyone who is involved in engaging people in the shaping of the future of their community will nd numerous opportunities to practice asset mapping. The use of the process is limited only by our ability to imagine.
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Next Steps
Primary contributors
Tony Fuller, University of Guelph Denyse Guy, Canadian Co-operative Association Ontario Region Carolyn Pletsch and John Thompson, Ontario Agricultural Training Institute Jan Sanders, PeopleEnergy Ethel Ct, LArt du Dvelopement Gareth Lind, Lind Design
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Introduction
CONCEPTUALIZING RURAL ASSETS
BUILT
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Appendix
CONCEPTUALIZING RURAL ASSETS
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Appendix
CONCEPTUALIZING RURAL ASSETS
RURAL ASSETS
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